Welcome to Chapter Two!
This Chapter is a quite a bit longer than the first and is probably around the length the upcoming chapters will be as well. Carly gets to meet up with TWD group in this chapter. Yay! Also remember, this story will not follow the events of season three it actually takes place afterwards. Since season three isn't over, some people may be dead in the TV show that aren't dead in this story!
P.S. I don't own anything TWD, just my OC's :)
ContestingGirl
The sky is nearly dark when the prison comes into view. A high fence topped with barbed wire surrounds the facility, making it nearly impossible to escape but not impossible to get in. The guard tower looks smaller than it did from a distance and has flood lights that illuminate the center of the prison yard, but leave the corners pitch black. My best bet will be to climb the fence in one of those corners.
Getting out will be the hard part. The prison's gate is made of thick steel, impossible to move by oneself. I will have to get inside the guard tower to open it, and from where I stand it looks as though the people living here have instituted a watch system. Two men stand atop the tower, both heavily armed. A few people also mill lazily about the prison yard making mindless chatter about nothing in particular. It must be nice not to have to fear for your life every second of every day.
Quietly I make my way towards the far end of the prison, as far away from the tower as possible. I exam the fence for a moment and then begin to climb. The minute I begin to move the fence rattles; causing me to hold my breath in fear. No one seems to notice though, and I continue to climb this time a little bit more carefully. Once I reach the top I position myself so that I can avoid the dangerous barbed wire as best as possible. My first leg goes over with ease, but as I am starting to swing my second one over I lose my balance and snag my leg on the wire. I don't give myself time to look at my wound when I hit the ground.
People come rushing in the direction of the sound with their weapons raised. My heart beats traitorously in my chest and blood runs down my leg in torrents. I have myself backed into a corner as far as possible in hopes that the shadows will conceal me.
A burly man holding an impressive looking cross bow kneels to the ground where I fell. His hand come away covered in crimson blood, my blood. I hold my breath, as though it will help me now. The man turns directly towards me and crouches low to the ground; apparently I left a blood trail. I am screwed. No doubt about it.
The entire group begins to slowly make their way in my direction and have surprisingly yet to see me. Slowly I get into a crouch and prepare to run. My leg burns in protest, but I ignore it. The group moves closer still. They're so close in fact, that I can see their features. This entire group is relatively attractive, unlike many of the groups I've come across in the past. It's kind of strange really.
Suddenly, a handsome blue eyed man who appears to be in his early thirties spots me. For a split second piercing blue meets storm grey and then I'm launching myself forward at a dead sprint. The group yelps in bewilderment at my sudden appearance.
Me being me I can't help but shout, "Hola!" over my shoulder as I fly past.
All behind me I can hear the sounds of safeties being clicked off and a lone crossbow being drawn. I push myself even faster towards the far fence in hopes I will be able to clear it. At the sound of gunfire I throw my body to the left and let out a cry of pain when a bullet grazes my shoulder. I am beginning to panic when I reach the fence. Quickly I begin to climb. This time when I hear a gun go off I am unable to move quickly enough and a bullet imbeds itself in my shoulder. My body tumbles to the ground in a tangled heap.
I desperately try to push myself up but find it impossible to do so. My chest feels as though an elephant is sitting on top of me and I struggle to draw in a good breath. Suddenly the face of a handsome man is beside my own. I can see his mouth moving, but can't make out the words he is saying. The last thing I see before darkness overtakes me is a pair of angry blue eyes.
-The Next Day -
The first thing I notice when I regain consciousness is the cool metal against my wrists. Immediately I try to move away from the cold, but quickly find I can't move my arms very far. Hand cuffs. My eyes shoot open and I throw my body forward only to stop when excruciating pain runs through my shoulder.
Blood is caked down my side and an open wound greats my eyes. My leg is also still gaping open and bleeding quite a lot. I fight the urge to gag at the sight of my wounds. Quickly I turn my attention elsewhere. It appears as though I am in a prison cell chained to a bed. Fantastic.
The man who had the cross bow earlier is walking towards my cell with a grimace on his face. Something tells me he isn't looking to have a nice chat about the weather. I push against my restraints in panic, being tortured is not my idea of fun. My shoulder hurts more than I can even describe and I bite my lip to keep from screaming. He walks into the cell without the slightest care to my panicked state.
The man saunters up to me and kneels down so that his watery blue eyes are even with mine, "Where is the rest of your group?"
I stare just past his head and remain silent. There's no way I'm answering this assholes questions.
"I said where is your group?" he repeats with more venom in his voice, as if that is going to scare me. In impatience he smacks me hard across the face. Okay, that is enough to scare me. Quickly I shrink away from him as far as possible. I eye him with hatred and distrust.
"I don't have a group!" I growl angrily at him, "I never have!"
"You expect me to believe, that a young woman like yourself has been surviving in the woods with no weapons? If that's the case you're either lying or you're crazy."
"Well I ain't lyin' if that's what you're implying Mr." I give a huff of annoyance.
"So tell me then, how have you managed to stay alive this far?" His voice is laced with sarcasm, which only serves to anger me further.
I decide not to acknowledge him anymore. If he's going to be nasty, then I'm not going to respond. Plus, I don't think telling him my survival strategy will be all that beneficial to my future if I ever escape this hell hole. The man is getting angry with my silence and paces before me. Suddenly, a gun is being pointed directly in my face. I don't even flinch.
Why should I? Maybe, it would be easier if he did shoot me. Quick and easy, here one minute gone the next. Sure be a heck of a lot less painful than being mauled to death by a biter, only to return as biter yourself. I hear the safety click off and take a deep breath. I am going to die.
"Daryl! What the hell are you doing!" a deep voice laced with an irresistible country accent shouts across the cell.
My eyes snap open to see the handsome blue eyed man from earlier. "You were supposed to ask her questions not threaten to kill her. Remember, we don't kill the living."
"Thought you said, 'That was before the living tried to kill us.' " The man who's pointing the gun at my forehead fires back.
I grit my teeth and snarl, "I wasn't trying to kill you! I was scavenging for supplies for Christ's sake! There aren't enough people left to kill!"
For the first time since he entered the room the other man addresses me, "Calm down. We don't want to cause you any more damage than what has already been done."
"It doesn't look that way to me. What with the gun pointed at my forehead!" I stare at the man who is apparently named Daryl when I say the last part. Slowly he lowers the gun and storms out of the cell with a grimace on his face.
"Don't worry about Daryl. He's just not real friendly with outsiders. Last time we had one, the farm we were on got over run."
"At least you have a place to call home. Some of us out there have nothing." I say bitterly.
The man gives a dark almost crazed chuckle and replies, "You have no idea."
I eye him with curiosity, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
He shakes his head of dark hair, "It's a long story."
I give a shrug of my shoulders which causes pain to shoot through my bad shoulder. A gasp of pain manages to worm its way through my teeth. The man gently comes over to me and takes a key from his pocket and undoes the handcuffs. I gently rub my red wrists and fold them in my lap.
"You should go see Hershel to get you wounds fixed up before you lose any more blood." He says as he makes his way towards the door, "And by the way my name is Rick."
"Mine's Carly." I say with a nod of my head, "Wait, who's Hershel?"
He gives a chuckle, "Old man, white hair, and looks kind of like Santa Claus. You can't miss him."
I give a final nod of my head before he walks out of the cell, leaving the door open behind him.
-Later That Day-
It would've been nice if Rick had given me directions, but no he just walked out of the cell without a good bye. Sure Hershel himself might be unmistakable, but getting around this place is certainly difficult. Throw in a bum leg and navigating this place is absolute hell.
I ran into a nice Oriental looking guy named Glen who directed me towards the prison yard not too long ago. He said Hershel would probably be out there. Thank God some people in this group aren't total ass holes, aka Daryl.
Sure enough following Glen's directions have led me straight to the yard. When I step outside several people wave at me. I am taken aback by their kind gestures and simply choose not to acknowledge them. My eyes scan the expansive yard and eventually lock on a man with a head of white walking the perimeter. Quickly I jog out to him, despite the pain that shoots through my leg.
The man's head swivels in my direction as I approach and I questioningly say, "Hershel?"
"Yes. Is there something I could do for you Miss?"
I nod hesitantly and reply, "Yeah, I need to get my shoulder and leg patched up. Rick said I should come see you."
He shakes his head, "Told Rick that I should've stitched you up the minute you passed out. He was insistent that we question you first to make sure you weren't a threat. Can't say I blame him, you look kinda rough round' the edges."
I'm not sure if I should take his comment as an insult or a statement and decide not to comment any further on my somewhat wild appearance. Instead I direct the conversation towards him, "So where you a doctor before the world basically ended."
He laughs, "No I was a veterinarian."
"I always wanted to be a vet when I was a little girl, became a Wildlife Biologist instead," I say absentmindedly.
"Come one, we should get you patched up before you get an infection." He says waving me back towards the prison.
Once we get inside he leads me down a short corridor to another set of barracks. These look to be inhabited. There are clothes strewn about several cells and the beds are all slept in. At the end of the isle is a large doorway which opens up into a small clinic of sorts. Hershel quickly gestures for me to sit on the stainless steel table at the center of the room.
"So this is the infirmary I'm guessing."
"Yeah, it's not much I know but we make do with what we have," He replies.
"It's far better than having nothing." I say with a shrug of my shoulders. The pain hardly bothers me now because I've gotten so used to it.
Hershel holds up a needle and thread and smiles apologetically, "Wish we had something to numb you, but supplies are runnin' low. I would be lying if I said this wasn't going to hurt."
"Don't worry about it; I've faced a lot worse than a few stitches. By the way, did you already take the bullet out of my shoulder?"
"Yes, that was the only thing Rick was comfortable letting me do to you." Hershel says calmly as he begins to stitch up my leg.
The pain makes me bite my lip, but other than that it isn't unbearable. For the rest of the time Hershel is stitching my leg we remain silent. It is not an uncomfortable silence but a rather comfortable one, in which neither party really feels as though talking is necessary. So far, out of the people I've met Hershel is probably my favorite. His obvious love for animals gives me something in common with him which is more than I can say for the rest of the group, whom I know so little about.
Once he's done Hershel looks up from my leg and says, "You might have a scar but at least your risk for infection isn't as high. Plus you still have your leg."
His last comment takes me off guards, "Do you not have both legs?"
He lets out a laugh, "That got you interested. And to answer your question, no. I lost one of my legs to a walker not too long after we got to this prison. Merle Dixon helped me to make a rough prosthetic about a month back so that I could walk better."
"So, do you have to stitch my shoulder or are you just going to bandage it?"
"Normally, I'd stitch it but we're running low on thread so I'm just going to bandage it."
I give a nod of my head and let silence take over again. Once Hershel's entirely finished fixing me up I decide to head out into the prison yard to meet the rest of the group. While I'm healing I don't have much of a choice but to stay, might as well know the people I will be sleeping with.
When I get to the prison yard, I notice Rick standing with a young baby girl in his arms and a young boy of about ten standing near his side. They must be his family I conclude, but I notice the lack of a wife and find myself wondering where she might be. Glen quickly rushes up to my side and begins to make conversation, effectively tearing my attention away from Rick and his family.
"So did you find Hershel?" He asks in a vibrant manner that reminds me so much of my younger brother.
I give a light laugh and shake my head at his youthful energy, "Yes, thanks for the directions by the way. I'm pretty sure I would've been lost forever if you hadn't helped me out."
"I doubt that. You seem like a pretty sharp person Carly. And damn, you are fast as hell. Seriously when you ran from us last night I thought for sure you had to have been on the Olympic Team! You were injured too."
"I was good at one time, but not that good." I say, deciding to let him draw his own conclusions about what I meant. The sky is starting to get a little dark so I bid Glen farewell and head off to walk around.
The prison is peaceful compared to what I'm used to. It's actually kind of nice knowing that I will actually have a meal to eat tonight. I haven't had anything to eat for the past two days and the effects are starting to show. My ribs are more prominent as is my already crazily prominent collar bone. I still have my well-toned muscles and if I have to say so myself don't look all that bad, I'm just skinnier than I would like to be.
The young boy who was standing beside Rick earlier comes jogging up to me, "My dad told me to come and tell you that dinner's ready."
"Thanks for letting me know…."
"Carl, my name's Carl." He replies to my pause.
A grin makes its way onto my face, "Hey, did you ever watch Llamas with Hats by any chance?"
The boy lets out a laugh, "Yes my friends used to bug me with it all the time! Please tell me you didn't watch it."
"Oh I did, in fact I watched every single episode… multiple times." I say with a devilish grin.
He quickly slaps his hands over his ears as though guessing what I was about to do and takes off towards the prison. I follow suit behind him shouting at the top of my lungs in the best Paul impersonation I can muster, "CARRRLLLLL!"
Soooo, how did you like it? Personally, I love the last scene with Carly and Carl. I couldn't resist putting in a reference from Llamas with Hats, seriously love those crazy Llamas! It might have seemed like Carl was majorly OOC, but I want to make him seem a little less brutal and little more like the little boy he should be. I know a lot of people will not like how I have Carly disliking Daryl, but he did stick a gun in her face after all. I promise she won't hate him forever! This chapter basically chronicled her first day at the prison, the upcoming chapters will cover more.
Next Chapter- I promise there will be a little more Carly and Rick interaction, as well as interaction with the rest of the group.
P.S. all reviewers, keep em' coming! I love me some reviews!
ContestingGirl aka THE BEST MOST AMAZING PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!